Catholics and Abortion

Contrary to an activist in New Mexico quoted in your article, we do have considerable knowledge about what Catholics think when it comes to abortion. You quote the activist, Pat Davis, as saying, “There’s not a model anywhere in the country to help us figure out whether a Catholic Hispanic woman thinks that an abortion ban that makes no exception for rape or incest has gone too far.”

In fact, polling and results in other jurisdictions, including Florida, Mississippi, North Dakota, Colorado and California, show that Americans, including Catholics and Hispanics, reject ballot measures intended to restrict abortion rights, whether those measures seek to manufacture rights for embryos or ban later abortion.

Catholics in the United States have abortions and support access to abortion services at the same rate as other women do. Hispanics also support access to and avail themselves of abortion care at rates similar to or higher than other women in the United States.

There is no need to mystify this. Comprehensive voter education about the harm that can be caused by abortion bans leads to victories for women’s rights — and the pro-choice movement — at the ballot box.